Jerk chicken

IT'S EVERY American's right to call someone a jerk, and that includes politicians. We applaud Councilman Jim Kenney for his letter to Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, taking him to task for saying gay marriage is "inviting God's judgment on our nation."

We also support Kenney's plan to introduce a Council resolution in September condemning Cathy and his company. We're perfectly happy to have "Dan Cathy is a jerk" be the city's official position.

But we hope this campaign stops there. In Chicago and Boston, elected officials are working to block Chick-fil-A from opening stores, using zoning and permit rules, because of Cathy's comments. That's a problem — the levers of government power should not be used to punish people for speech. This is pretty basic First Amendment stuff; it would be a shame if we had confusion about this point in the birthplace of free speech.

If Philadelphians don't want Chick-fil-A here, we can all act as private citizens and decline to purchase its products. As to the alleged deliciousness of Chick-fil-A's chicken, we have no position.